Statistics Canada today released the Consumer Price Index report for March 2022, and the annual rate of inflation has now hit 6.7 per cent.
This is the largest increase since January 1991 when the inflation rate of 6.9%. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, it matched the largest increase on record at 0.9%.
Statistics Canada says prices rose across all eight major components of the Consumer Price Index (“food”, “shelter”, “household operations, furnishings and equipment”, “clothing and footwear”, “transportation”, “health and personal care”, “recreation, education and reading”, and “alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and recreational cannabis”).
As per the report, inflation is high at 5.5% even after excluding the price of gasoline.
Credit: Statistics Canada
Among the provinces, PEI experienced the highest price increase of 8.9% followed by New Brunswick (+7.4%), Manitoba (+7.4%) and Ontario (+7.0%), while Saskatchewan had the lowest price growth at 5.7.
As Ontario removed the passenger vehicle registration fees, the corresponding index fell 100.0% year over year in the province.
March 2022 Consumer Price Index Report in a nutshell:
Credit: Statistics Canada
- Gasoline prices rose 11.8% month over month. Year over year, consumers paid 39.8% more for gasoline in March.
- Prices for durable goods increased 7.3% compared to last year, following a 4.8% gain in February. This was the largest increase since February 1982.
- The cost of passenger vehicles rose 7.0% year over year.
- Furniture prices rose 13.7% on a year-over-year basis.
- Food costs increased by 8.7% on a year-over-year basis in March, up from a 7.4% increase in February. This is the largest yearly increase since March 2009.
- Prices for dairy products and eggs rose 8.5% – butter (+16.0%), cheese (+10.4%) and fresh milk (+7.7%) – year over year in March. This is the largest yearly increase since February 1983.
- Prices for services rose 4.3% on a year-over-year basis and dining out costs rose +5.4%, a faster pace year over year in March than in February .
- Hotel and other traveller accommodation costs rose 24.4% in March. This is also the fastest March increase on record,
- Air transportation prices rose 8.3% month over month in March.
The Bank of Canada increased interest rates to 1 per cent to control inflation last week and said, “CPI inflation is now expected to average almost 6% in the first half of 2022 and remain well above the control range throughout this year.”
The positive news amid rising inflation is that Canada’s unemployment fell to a record low and, average hourly wages for employees rose 3.4% on a year-over-year basis.
A report recently ranked Canada as the sixth most miserable country among 35 advanced economies.